Today I’m thankful for weekend days off. In a profession that runs 24/7/365 hospital staff work every day of the week, plus weekends, plus holidays, plus that awful hour you add when you “fall back” and we’re happy to do it. All of our hospital friends and health care friends and work family people get it. They know the schedule and they know that a Tuesday can be a Friday night if it needs to be.

The problem is that some of my best friends have normal people 9-5 Monday-Friday weekends off schedules. I generally work many weekend days, usually one a week because I enjoy the weekend staff (shout out!) and the shift differential is always welcome however, it makes scheduling normal people friends time harder. I’ve got Tuesday off but they work and they’ve got the weekend but I work Saturday and they’ve already got plans on Sunday and it just leads to me seeing some of my favorite people less.

Today was an excellent day off. I managed to wrangle a mutual day off with my sweet friend Amber and we spent the day in the Stockyards and it was gorgeous and fun and I’m super glad that I was able to have lunch with her!!

So…here’s to you weekend days off!! Though you are sometimes few and far between and though sometimes I only have one of you off a week…I salute you for your always welcome chance to see friends and family!!!

It was one of those days today. 10 out, 10 in. We ran at 36 patients pretty much all day- which is full. Full, full, full. All the way full. The kind of full that has no beds available for a stat bed or a trauma bed. The kind of full that DEMANDS team work.

Well, guess what today? My work family sees your demands and raises you some awesome!!! 10 admits is ridiculous. But everyone had the help they needed (I think…) and everyone pitched in to help those who needed it.

No one else quite gets it like we do and no one else quite understands the need for teamwork on days like this. There were a lot of people who had gotten their own admits who didn’t need to help me with my 5pm admit. But they did!! (And my 8am admit!!)

We are supportive of each other and ALWAYS have each others backs. No where else like it.

Day 7. Today I am thankful for something I never thought I’d be thankful for.

In August I was forced into a coffee hiatus no thanks to a poorly cleared prolene suture needle all chock full of HIV blood.

With that came 28 days of Truvada and Isentress to kill whatever HIV may it may not have found it’s way into my body. (Suuuuuuuuuuuper low transmission rate. I’m 99.97% sure I’m good.)

With those lovely drugs came nausea, cramping, constipation and a newfound intolerance of coffee.

Those that know me know how much I love my morning Starbucks. This was NOT. GOOD.

Thankfully earlier that summer I had gone to California to visit my BFF from 5th grade and we had tea in the mornings. It wasn’t quite the caffeine jolt of coffee but I was desperate. Not only did the meds mess with my sleep and make my dreams extra vivid but I would spend the nights thinking about my impending AIDS and my starring role in Philadelphia. I was tired!!

The caffeine wasn’t much- but it was enough. Now a little tea and honey are part of my normal morning schedule. A little green, a little earl grey, some warm pumpkin. Cheaper, even at Starbucks. A little more natural. And I hate to say it- a lot more flavorful.

Day 6. So today I’m thankful for my Mom. She’s exactly where I get it from.

I never felt stupid as a child. I always felt like she thought I was smart. Sometimes that worked to my advantage and I was encouraged to take harder classes and read harder books and please, do your poetry project on TS Eliot. Because you know, his work was easy. Sometimes that meant that mediocrity wasn’t good enough. Often, that was the case. Mediocrity wasn’t okay. B’s were only okay if I really had to study for the B because the problem was sometimes I didn’t have to study for the A. She was a Tiger Mother before anyone wrote a book about Tiger Mothers and before it was cool. Her theory was that if she did things for me like my homework or pay too many of my bills that I would get the impression that she didn’t think I could do it on my own and that I would feel bad for myself. I keep assuring her that her buying me a new pair of boots won’t make me feel like I’m unable to buy my own or that I have less self worth but she never listens. It’s actually a big part of the reason I’m so independent.

She instilled in me, and all of my high school friends can attest to this, that dead is forever and ever and always. This is something that I have learned is more true than I would have ever thought in high school. It used to drive me crazy. Every time we’d leave the house she’d tell me and my friends “Don’t do anything stupid. Dead is forever and ever and always.” We all laughed and said we wouldn’t and it was funny because we were 17 and invincible. Now, I know it to be a sad and very true fact. It was a clue early on in life that life is short and precious and fleeting. I didn’t get it AT. ALL. back then. But doing what I do now…I get it. And I’m glad that it was pushed as a teenager. It probably ended up making a difference.

The best part is that she made it okay to be interesting and independent. She had friends besides Daddy. She had interests outside of David and me. She had things to do outside of the house. She was successful at work. AND I was still well taken care of, well loved and she was always at all my concerts and musicals and soccer games (for like, one season when I was 5 mostly so people would take my picture). For me being a super awesome grown up lady with a life and friends and stuff to do and places to go and people to see was totally normal.

Today I’m thankful for my sushi girls!! It’s a rotating crew with a few different players but the one thing remains- these are some of the best girls ever!!

There is no judgement at the sushi table. One glass of wine, water only, two bottles? No judgement. Three orders of tok fries? No judgement. Flapping edematous lady parts? No judgement. Sometimes it’s deep, personal revelations about life. Sometimes it’s a conversation about why other cars can’t be as roomy and inexpensive as mini vans. Sometimes you run into your bosses bosses boss. Often you drink a lot of wine. If you’re lucky you go to the same sushi place so many times that the staff know you and your “usual” order and make you try new things. But mostly…there are no judgements and you’re with friends.

At least amongst us. If it takes you longer than 90 seconds to open a bottle of wine…be prepared for open judgement. Or get a rabbit. We won’t judge that.